Photo of village

North Nibley is a parish and village on the edge of the Cotswolds, located close to the river Severn between Bristol and Gloucester. Its name means a farm or settlement on a hilltop. The village is famously associated with William Tyndale who translated much of the Bible into English. In North Nibley we are fortunate to live in a unspoiled setting, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is an unusual parish in that almost half of the households live outside the central nucleus of the village, across a number of separate hamlets.

Council Elections 2024

Election of District and Parish councillors will take place on 2nd May.

Nominations open on 19th March and close on 5th April.

If you are interested in becoming a Parish Councillor then you can obtain the necessary information from Stroud District Council (SDC). You can also speak to any of the current parish council or the clerk who will be happy to explain what is involved. You are welcome to attend a PC meeting yourself as an observer and will be able to ask questions when the meeting is open to members of the public.

North Nibley parish Council has 7 councillors. If 7 or less nominations are received (by SDC) then they will automatically become councillors. If more tha 7 nominations are received then all will be on the ballot paper on 2nd May.

Stroud District Council, 01453 766321, elections@stroud.gov.uk

See Council website for parish council contact details

To stand as a candidate, you will need to complete a set of nomination papers for the electoral area you are wanting to represent. Your nomination papers will need to show that you have been formally nominated by a particular number of registered electors in the electoral area you are wishing to stand. These are a proposer and seconder who support your nomination in the Parish/Town or Ward (if warded) you are wanting to represent. Nomination papers must be hand delivered to the district Council and will be checked upon delivery to ensure they are correctly completed. Please check on your local authority website whether an appointment is necessary. Nomination forms are also available from the Parish clerk.

You can be a Councillor if you have a full-time job; by law your employer must allow you to take a reasonable amount of time off during working hours to perform your duties as a Councillor. You do not need to belong to a political party to stand for election and can stand as a candidate to become a Parish/Town Councillor if: You are 18 or over on the day you submit your nomination paper and are a British, Commonwealth or European Union Citizen and at least one of the following:

North Nibley Parish Council meetings take place once per month in the evening. It is not necessary to attend every meeting.

Voting at the election

All electors will need to show photo identification when voting at the polling station, either:

Telephone Network Upgrade

The telephone network in the UK will change technology in the next few years. Openreach plan to stop the public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) in 2025 starting in cities.

Every phone line in the UK will be digital, routing calls over Internet Protocol (IP). All landlines will use broadband to make calls. The new system is called Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP).

If you don’t already have broadband, your network provider (BT, Plusnet etc) will supply you with a connection. (You should not have to pay extra) Your telephone service provider will contact you in advance to let you know when the change will happen. If you already have broadband, your existing phone will connect into your router, usually with an adapter (provided by the company). In most case you will be able to keep your current phone number.

SCAMs – BEWARE

This is a new opportunity for scammers. Beware of cold callers. They may well be attempting to rob you. Do NOT trust anyone who comes to your door to check or upgrade your phone line. They are probably not who they seem. Do not let them in your house.

Customers who currently have Fibre To The Premised (FTTP) such as Gigaclear users already have this technology directly to their home.

Customers who have Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) still have systems that work over old copper wires from the cabinet (In North Nibley, this is at the bottom of Warren Hill). Your connection will consist of several/many short lengths of pairs of copper wire connected together.

If you use WhatsApp, Zoom or Skype to make calls then you are already using VOIP. A growing number of broadband routers now come with the equivalent of a built-in ATA adapter, which allows you to plug your old analogue or DECT phone directly into the back of the router.

It is surprising that this major change is receiving so little publicity.

An article will soon appear in OTE, meanwhile check this website for further news.

For more information See Ofcom notice

Please note that your telephone will not work during a power cut. See this article

also this article, para 2.13/2 has this - The minimum duration of the back-up facility should be 1 hour.

See more information as it becomes available.

Nibley Festival

The 2023 festival went very smoothly and many people said they had "a lovely time".

The festival wouldn't be possible without all the hard work put in by volunteers.

Planning for this years festival is under way.

Open Gardens

THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to the success of the Open Gardens event which raised £3,400 for North Nibley Parish Church.

North Nibley Primary School

Congratulations to staff, students, governors and helpers for achieving GOOD OFSTED rating..

Protecting Skylarks (SDC)

Walkers and dog owners can help protect ground-nesting Skylarks on Selsley Common and other local nature sites by keeping to the defined paths and ensuring dogs are kept on a short lead. Selsley Common is a great place to spot the iconic, yet declining, resident bird species. Skylarks are classified as ‘red’ on the British Birds of Conservation Concern list which means that their population is in steep decline. In the UK, the population halved during the 1990s and continues to decline. The Skylark nesting season started in April and ends in July. These ground-nesting birds are easily disturbed, especially during the spring, and this can prevent them from raising their chicks. From 1 March to 31 July it is a legal obligation to keep dogs on a short lead (no longer than 2 meters long), while on open access land.

We would love to have skylarks nesting on Nibley Knoll. Please do not allow your dog to run around and disturb birds that are attempting to nest here.

Warm Wotton

Warm meeting spaces in Wotton See diary.

Hot lunches are available at the Keepers - but now we have a minibus on Tuesday lunchtimes - so we can collect/drop back anyone who does not have transport. Anyone can phone us on 07585 466418, book a lunch and book a place on the minibus. If you don't need the minibus, you can still book a lunch. LUNCHES ARE FOR EVERYONE - PAY AS YOU FEEL! We need those who can pay for their meal to cover the costs for those who cant afford to pay at this present time. The area covered by the minibus (in no particular order) includes: Kingswood, North Nibley, Wotton, Hillesley, Charfield, Wickwar - and all the area in between.

Superfast Broadband

Gigaclear have made available Superfast Broadband to more of North Nibley. If you live on the eastern side of the B4060 e.g. Barrs lane you should be able to request a connection. Check the Fastershire website to see if it is available to you. Speeds available are 30Mbps, 300Mbps or 900Mbps. Note that this speed is for download and upload whereas FTTC provided by Openreach gives an average of 12MBps download and 1Mbps upload.

The service is only available at present through certain Companies. Details can be found on the Fastershire or Gigaclear websites.

Gigaclear have now begun the latest phase by installing trunking into Waterley Bottom and blown the fibre as far as the crossroads. Trunking has now been installed through Mill End, Pitt Court and Forthay. The service which should have been available to a number of properties by 3rd quarter 2023 has been delayed with no information about future availability.

Latest addition to this website

Marriages in St. Martin's from 1567 are now available for searching in addition to Baptisms and Burials. See the Features tab on the top menu.

Review of Nibley Festival

Here is a review of the 2022 festival from the festival kids website.

The friendly and beautiful Nibley Festival utterly charmed us first time visitors. It was a joy waking up to the awesome countryside views, the music was well pitched and accomplished, and the kids’ activities were well thought out, varied and fun. We had a great time!

Dogs walking advice – ground nesting birds

Dog owners and walkers are asked to help protect ground nesting birds when enjoying country walks by parking in designated bays, keeping to footpaths, and ensuring dogs are walked on the lead. Commons and farmland provide the ideal breeding ground for birds who make their nests on the ground including skylarks and meadow pipits, whose numbers have declined over recent years. The ground nesting bird season lasts from spring until early summer. Stroud District Council

Tyndale Monument

No motorised vehicles are allowed up the track or on the hill. Motorcyclsts contravening this rule should be reported to the Police.

Save our spaces from reckless development

This year more than ever, we have needed our local green spaces. For many of us, going to our nearest bit of countryside, even for an hour, has meant the difference between coping and struggling physically, mentally and emotionally. But these precious moments are now under threat.

In a new white paper, the government has proposed a damaging shake-up of the UK's planning system - one that puts thoughtless development before our countryside.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has launched an urgent campaign to protect our local green spaces from damaging new planning proposals. See the CPRE website for details.

The Community

The popular village of North Nibley sits between the Severn Vale and Cotswold Escarpment, with the tower of the Tyndale Monument on the hillside above - a well-known landmark that can be seen for miles around. The village has a parish church, primary school, chapel, the Black Horse Inn and the New Inn at Waterley Bottom. It is also home to the very popular annual music festival. There are good links to the A38 and M5 combined with convenient access to the market town of Wotton-under-Edge which delivers all the essential everyday facilities, a cinema and schooling. In the opposite direction lies the market town of Dursley which also has a range of independent shops and supermarkets along with good schools and entertainment. The M5 junction 14 is approximately 5 miles away and offers commutability to the city of Bristol with Junction 13 approximately 9 miles away providing links to Cheltenham. Cam and Dursley railway station is 5 miles away and gives good links south to Bristol Parkway and London Paddington. To the north is Gloucester and and onwards to Birmingham.

Tyndale Monument

Monument

Mobile Post Office times

The Mobile Post Office will be outside the Village Hall on Fridays between 15:15 and 16:15 from 13th September 2019.

St. Martin's Church

Church

Village Life

It has a surprising number of activities for a small village, centred around the village hall, the chapel and Nibley House. Pre School meets Monday mornings and all day Tuesday to Friday during term time in the village hall. There are a number of good schools locally including the highly regarded Katherine Lady Berkeley's School. The village has cricket and football teams which play on a recreation field which must be one of the most beautiful settings for a sports field in Britain. It is equipped with a modern pavilion. The sports field is also enjoyed by the children from the adjacent primary school.

There are several businesses in the area providing a variety of services from accountancy to Zumba.

It is a popular destination for mountain bikers and walkers with the Cotswold Way passing through the centre of the village.


Map of North Nibley View Larger Map